Between the centuries
by KUgirl
Summary: The Enterprise and her crew are stranded in the 24th century...
1. Chapter 1

Title: Between the centuries (working title)

Author: KUgirl

Category: General, Romance

Spoilers: none really

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Enterprise and her crew are stranded in the 24th century we know from ST:TNG, DS9 and VOY

A/N: The last episode this story takes into account is "The Aenar". Everything that happened afterwards is speculation. Note though that as a European the last episode I got to see was "E2". All information about the events afterwards are from the Internet. I apologize if something is not quite right. In addition, English is not my mother tongue, so bear with me please. And as this is my first fanfic ever, I haven't found a beta yet - contact me if you're interested in doing it! Now, on with the story!

Reviews are appreciated. No flames pls!

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Enterprise NX-01 was floating in space. All life on board had come to a halt, the silence was incredible. That was not important though as nobody was able to hear it. The bridge was dark as were engineering, sickbay and all corridors. There had not been light aboard for more than two centuries now. That did not matter either. Nobody had opened his eyes during the same amount of time.

That was about to change though and the sleeping crew was in for a surprise that would change their lives.

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USS Virginia, NCC 75632, somewhere in the Beta Quadrant in 2377

Cmdr. Charles "Trip" Tucker woke up from another chaotic dream. For a few seconds, he didn't know where he was, only that these were definitely not his quarters. Then it came crushing back on him. His dreams might have been chaotic, but most of them were close enough to reality: 2377. The USS Virginia on her way to a more or less unknown region of space. With the incredible speed of Warp 17.8 or 9.7 according to their scale. Hoping to find the NX-01 in a nebula nobody had ever penetrated before. Hoping that all stasis cellules were still working. Hoping that his friends could help him adjust in this new time and regain his equilibrium. Hoping he would not have to live without T'Pol.

The Virginia was a nice enough ship. Trip had yet to adjust to its dimensions. His own quarters were bigger than Enterprise's bridge. He loved Engineering: After two weeks of interviews, tests and examinations, Starfleet had cleared him for all sections of the ship and for access to most of the files a normal Starfleet officer could have a look at. So, he had spent most of the last four weeks in Engineering getting to know the new technology and exchanging views with Virginia's chief engineer. He had been surprised when he found that he could actually talk to the man although the technology he knew was 223 years old. It never seized to amaze him how patient the young Lieutenant Commander was with him. And how excited he could get explaining the most basic things.

When Trip wasn't in Engineering, like now, he was in the mess hall with Virginia's diplomatic officer, Commander Karen Veneta. She had agreed to introduce him to her century. To their technology, to Starfleet's new standards, to the last 223 years, to new races they had encountered and regions of space they had explored. She always found something to tell him that brought his attention away from his misery if at least for a few minutes.

"So I was really lucky that you didn't find me 18 months ago or I would have ended up in the middle of the worst war the Federation has ever known?"

"Yes, in fact. Although of course we only found you because Virginia was back at exploring instead of patrolling the borders. We would've never had a look into the nebula had we not been on an exploring mission. She might be one of the best scientific ships Starfleet might have but we had not done anything else than patrolling since we deployed from Utopia Planitia."

"Utopia Planitia?" he asked. It had become kind of a tradition that she would tell him about something and when he heard something he didn't know, he interrupted her.

"Starfleet's main shipyard. Most of our starships are either from there or from Jupiter station." she answered without hesitation.

"All right. Utopia Planitia." he took a sip of the beverage that stood on the table before him. Its taste surprised him once again. "What was this called again?" Veneta only laughed at that. "Raktajino. It's one of the few positive things that came out of the war with the dominion. Our relationships with the Klingons are good enough to trade this with them."

"So this is basically Klingon coffee?" he asked baffled.

"Yeah. Surprising, hm? But there are a lot of fascinating things about the Klingons that most of us have yet to discover."

This made Trip think back to his situation. There was still a lot for him to discover about Vulcans as well. And now, that he and T'Pol had finally been back on track in their exploration of a possible relationship, Trip refused to think that she might be dead and this might be all over. Karen picked up the change of his mood immediately.

"What are you thinking about?" she inquired, sincerely interested.

It took him a few seconds to focus back on her and some more to decide how much he was going to tell her. "Nothing in particular. Just thinking about my friends back on Enterprise. And how much they are missing out." he finally answered smiling. She didn't buy it for a second.

"You're worried they might not be alive anymore." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Yes." Trip answered with a sigh. "I'm aware that the data you found at the station you found me in gives a good indication that the cellules might still be functional and that the ship was not damaged, but the doubts don't go away. Do you have any idea what it feels like to be stranded in a foreign century without anybody I know?" He had no idea why he confided into the woman he'd only known for a few weeks, but it made him feel slightly better and until now, she had not given him any indication that she was not worth his confidence.

"No. I haven't." she answered truthfully. "Maybe it will help if you tell me a few things about them. It will also make things easier as soon as I meet them."

He smiled at that. She seemed a lot more confident than himself that they would find his crew alive. "What do you want to know?"

"Whatever you have to tell me. All I know is that your Captain was Jonathan Archer, that your first officer was one of the first Vulcans in Starfleet..." "T'Pol" Trip interrupted her and noted with mixed feeling how good it felt to just say her name. What he didn't notice was that Karen interpreted his interruption correctly as well. It was pretty obvious to her that he felt special about the woman. She decided to store away that information for later but didn't inquire more about her for this moment. Apparently, this was one of the things that hurt him most. "Right, T'Pol. Why don't you tell me more about Enterprise's senior officers and then you start with Captain Archer." she offered smiling slightly.

They spent the next two hours with stories about the Enterprise crew, Captain Archer and some of the aliens they had encountered. All the time, Trip carefully avoided saying more about T'Pol than necessary.

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It took the USS Virginia another two days to arrive at the nebula where they suspected the Enterprise and her crew in cryo-stasis.

"Prepare to enter the nebula, Ensign." Captain Marc Laplace ordered his helmsman. Turning to his science officer, he inquired if she could detect something on the sensors.

"No, sir. But it ought to get better as soon as we enter the nebula." Lt. Cmdr. V'Shal answered.

"You heard the man, Ensign Carlton, get us in!" the captain ordered. Almost as an afterthought, he added "Commanders Veneta and Tucker to the bridge." "We're on our way, sir." came the positive reply.

TBC... Tell me what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Between the centuries (working title)

Author: KUgirl

Category: General, Romance

Spoilers: none really

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Enterprise and her crew are stranded in the 24th century we know from ST:TNG, DS9 and VOY

A/N: There you are, I'm updating NOW. Thank you all for the reviews. It really helps to know what's not clear and I like to get compliments ;-). I'll leave it to Trip himself to explain Archer (and you) how he got on the Virginia. I might also include characters from the other shows, but I still have to think about that. desy, why don't you write down what you had in mind with the Enterprise crew being in the 24th century, it'd certainly be interesting to see how others would handle this...

Reviews are appreciated (and wanted) once again. No flames pls!

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The first thing Jonathan Archer heard were quiet voices and some chirping he couldn't quite place. The next was that this time he really felt as if a shuttle pod had landed on him. It took an incredible effort to at least open his eyes.

„He's awake, sir." he heard a woman with a strange accent say. The voices stopped talking immediately and he could see something moving into his blurry field of vision.

„Jon?" he heard Trip's voice asking. It made him trying to focus harder. „Trip?" he finally brought out. His voice cords felt as if they hadn't been used for years. He had no idea how right he was with this observation.

„Yeah, it's me. How do you feel?"

„Groggy. You're back, what happened?" the last thing Archer remembered was trying to get to terms with the fact that Trip might be dead after he had been missing for over a week without the slightest hint where he could've been gone. Relief flooded him knowing that his friend was safe.

Then the woman with the strange accent was back. „It would probably be best if we let him sleep and rest for another few hours. His body has been through a lot."

„Yeah." Trip answered her. And turning his attention back to his captain he added „Rest a bit, Jon. We're gonna talk later." Archer wanted to protest but being weak as he was, he never gathered enough strength before he felt something press against his neck, heard a hissing sound and lost consciousness within seconds.

-

Several hours later, Archer felt much better. He opened his eyes once more to a ceiling he was unfamiliar with. Puzzled, he tried to push himself up. Trip stood a few metres away and talked to a woman he had never seen before. „Trip." Jon called, noticing that speaking was easier although it still felt as if he hadn't talked for quite some time. The chief engineer and the woman he had talked to quickly came over to him. She was the first to speak.

„Good afternoon. How do you feel now, Captain?"

„A lot better. Where am I? What happened?" Jon answered looking around and finally settling his gaze upon Trip. „Where have you been?"

„What do you mean?" Trip asked puzzled. He didn't remember having been away.

„You'd disappeared. We've been looking for you for over a week. We thought you were gone for good. We had no idea what happened." Archer explained already feeling tired again but determined to find out what had occured.

Trip sighed. „I'm not sure myself what exactly happened, but you'd better prepare yourself for a crazy story."

The captain only looked at him, silently urging him to go on.

„This is sickbay, Jon. The USS Virginia's sickbay in fact. This is Dr. Johnson, the ship's chief medical officer." he answered indicating the woman next to him. Archer nodded at her.

„I've never heard of a ship called Virginia. You're human, aren't you?"

„In fact, I'm a quarter betazoid and three quarters human." she answered smiling and then held up a hypospray „This is a slight stimulant, it will help you stay awake while Cmdr. Tucker explains everything to you." She didn't wait for his consent but held it against his throat. Jon felt the effect almost immediately.

„Trip, what is going on here?" he inquired this time more forcefully, daring his chief engineer to once again evade an answer.

„Alright. The Virginia is a Starfleet ship." Trip held his hand up before Archer could say something. „Let me explain. I'm really not sure what exactly happened but what I know is that I went to bed one day and woke up in this sickbay the next. I'd been abducted by a race that calls themselves V'For'tiran. That's about all we know about them. They put me in cryo-stasis. And you and the rest of the crew, too."

This time Trip hesitated long enough for Archer to interrupt him. „Cryo-stasis? Why?"

„I have no idea. The Virginia found me about 7 weeks ago in a stasis cellule on a starbase that was hidden in a nebula. Pretty far away from home by the way. They have no idea where those V'For'tiran are from or why they put me in cryo-stasis but they found a map in their computer which indicated where we could find the ship I was from – Enterprise. We'd been hoping you were still alive. And you are. All crew members are fine. They even put Porthos in stasis." he explained, smiling a bit at the last sentence.

It suddenly occured to Jonathan Archer that he had no idea how much time had passed since he had been put in cryo-stasis. He trusted his chief engineer, deciding that if this was a trap of some kind he could find out later. But the thought that a lot of time could have passed made him wary. He didn't know that the question he was about to ask was the one Trip dreaded. „Trip, how long have we been in cryo-stasis?" He was not prepared for the answer.

„223 years." Trip answered sounding apprehensive, afraid, excited, sad and angry all at once.

For some time, nobody said anything, Trip waiting for his captain to process this new piece of information, Archer processing it and the doctor watching the two of them trying to imagine what it must feel like to be told something like this.

„Please tell me this is a joke." Archer finally said in a hopeful voice knowing well that he was just kidding himself. Trip only shook his head. For a few seconds they just looked at each other. Their silent communication was interrupted when the doors hissed open. Trip turned his head. A man and a woman in uniforms similar to the doctor's entered. The woman smiled slightly when she saw that Archer was conscious.

„Welcome aboard, captain." she said to him and then turned to Trip. „Does he know?" her eyes seemed to ask. The engineer interpreted it correctly and nodded his head with an unreadable expression on his face. „I'm Commander Karen Veneta, Virginia's diplomatic officer." She went on turning back to Jon. „And this is our captain, Cpt. Marc Laplace." The man nodded his head and smiled. "Welcome on Virginia, Captain. I know, this must be a shock for you."

"Indeed, it is. Why do you all have such a strange accent?" Enterprise's captain had decided that for now, he would concentrate on banal things instead of thinking seriously about this situation. He didn't know that Trip had done the same and that the officers in front of him had been prepared for this reaction.

"More than 200 years have passed, sir. The languages have changed slightly since then. You will get used to it." the young woman answered gently.

"Hoshi will have a field day with this." Trip added smiling, trying to lighten Archer's mood, knowing exactly how he felt. It took him a few moments of looking inside himself to realize that he had not yet processed this completely either.

The doctor finally brought them back to business, reminding them that Captain Archer still needed to rest after all that happened. He didn't even protest, almost thankful for the prospect of having some time to himself to think this through.

"Do you think you will need something to sleep?" she asked him. For a few seconds he entertained the thought of saying yes and returning to oblivion if at least for some time. But if this was real, he'd have to support his crew. "No, thanks. I'd rather try myself." he answered knowing he wouldn't fall asleep but needing to come to terms with the situation so he could help his crewmen.

Trip understood this, too. "I'm going to come back later. I'd like you to be there when we wake Malcolm and T'Pol. They are next." he told his captain.

"Alright." he nodded.

"Sleep well, captain." Veneta added and then left the room with Trip and Virginia's captain.

TBC...

A/N: How do you like it? I hope the situation got a bit clearer. It was difficult to describe Archer's reaction, but I thought that such an information would make him pretty baffled and not make him ask one question after another. Also, I thought that denying it would be a fitting first reaction.

About the thing with the language – I didn't try to write down the changes that could've happened as I'm no linguist and it would also be difficult to try and change a language that isn't my own. But it always bothered me that they would speak the same language in the 24th century we speak now, just have a look at books that are 100 or 200 y/o. The language in them is slightly different but still understandable (Goethe in German for example). That's why I put it in there.

Oh, right, I had to put the shuttle pod remark at the beginning. I just loved it when he said it in "Twilight"!

One thing more: should I also describe how the others wake up or skip it and go directly to the senior crew's adventures AFTER they found out what happened?


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Between the centuries (working title)

Author: KUgirl

Category: General, Romance

Spoilers: none really

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Except maybe my pet bird. And even he does what he wants.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: The Enterprise and her crew are stranded in the 24th century we know from ST:TNG, DS9 and VOY

A/N: I know, I know it's been a long time. But university's been making me work… and preparing my year abroad isn't exactly easy either…

Note that by now, this story takes place at least several months after Terra Prime (from the Enterprise crew's POV) – although I have not yet decided if I'm going to include Elizabeth and her death in this story.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed, you guys are amazing!

A/N to the third posting of this chapter: There you go, this is the reviewed version of this chapter, hopefully with fewer errors than before. Tnx to my beta who obviously had a field day with this, if his comments are any indication…

As always, R&R please and now on with the story.

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When Jon woke up several hours later, he felt a lot more rested and aware. He'd had a strange dream, waking up in a rather strange looking room and having Trip tell him that they'd been put in cryo-stasis and were now in the distant future. He smiled slightly at the things his mind could come up with and opened his eyes. He fully expected to see the familiar ceiling of his quarters.

Virginia's sickbay came as a shock. For a few seconds, Jonathan Archer just stared upwards hoping that he was hallucinating. Then, a small sigh escaped his lips.

"Captain Archer, you're awake. How are you feeling?" a female voice asked shortly before the face it belonged to appeared over him.

"Please tell me this is a dream!" he sighed knowing it was in vain. Her brown eyes darkened with sadness and compassion.

"I'm afraid this is real, sir. Can you sit up?"

"Yes, I think so." Jon answered and sat up slowly.

"Good." Dr. Johnson said. She handed him a pile of clothes. "This is one of your uniforms. We thought that it might make you feel better to wear something you're familiar with."

Had the situation been different, the captain of the Enterprise might have smiled at that. He loved Starfleet and his work but he'd never been that much of a person that defined himself by his clothes. Now, he merely gave her a thankful glance and took the pile from her hands.

"I'll show you where you can get dressed." The doctor said and helped him up. "I'm going to inform Commander Tucker that you're awake. We're going to wake Commander T'Pol and Lieutenant Reed and then, Commander Tucker can show you around."

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When T'Pol of Vulcan eventually regained consciousness, the first thing she felt was the now familiar numbness. A few seconds later, she felt apprehension. It took another few seconds until she realized that it was not her own. That realization was all it took to bring her back to reality. Her eyes found his immediately when she opened them and stayed there until she was sure that her bondmate was really standing there in front of her and appeared to be unharmed. Only then she took her surroundings in, realising that she had never seen this place before. She looked questioningly at Trip. He hesitated a moment, then took a step towards her and took her hand.

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"You hear me?" his southern drawl resonated only in her head.

"Of course, you're touching my hand. It is only logical that I can hear you." She answered, mentally raising an eyebrow. This made him smile.

"What happened?" she asked finally.

"I'd rather show you." He answered seriously. "It's difficult to explain."

Her only answer was a slight nod. Trip let his – rather weak – mental shields down and showed her what he had seen and lived through during the last seven weeks (and 223 years). When T'Pol finally realised what he meant to tell her, she gasped – if only in their mind. But at the same time, his presence and his experiences in this new time gave her strength. She could see the way he treated this situation: as just another adventure during their mission of exploration. They both knew that at some point they would have to cope with the fact that they were stuck there, but for the moment T'Pol was happy (as happy as a Vulcan could be) to adapt his point of view and treat this as just another chance to learn and to explore.

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Of the four people standing around them, only one had understood immediately what was going on. T'Pol had opened her eyes shortly after Dr. Johnson had given her the hypospray. She had immediately turned her head to Trip as if she knew exactly where he was standing. Not one word had been spoken while she was looking at him, but the expression on her face changed from barely hidden surprise to relieve to contentment and then to puzzlement when she looked around. For some unknown reason no one said anything while Trip was standing at her biobed holding her hand but when he suddenly moved to help her sit up, the doctor and the two captains began to talk at once.

"T'Pol, I think you should…"

"Commander, I'd rather you…"

"Ma'am, I think it…"

When T'Pol looked calmly up into her captain's eyes, they all stopped speaking immediately.

"Commander Tucker already informed me, Captain." This brought on a small smile from Commander Veneta while the others merely frowned. T'Pol's attention though had already returned to Trip who stood there, as transfixed by the fact that she was indeed alive and well as she was about his being fine. The countless hours spent meditating together have trained Trip to hide his emotions almost as well as T'Pol when he wanted, but that did not stop the others from seeing their happiness. For a few seconds, their current situation did not seem to count for either of them.

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Several hundred light years away or maybe more, a small light flickered and then came to life that had not been on for 223 years – and even then only to test it. It took almost six point three seconds until one of the supervisors registered the change. He (or she for that matter) took a step forward and pressed on something we would probably define as keys. Then, he pressed another "key" and something that looked like hairs in his face began to move. Had a human been able to survive in the atmosphere – he would have heard nothing. The being on the other end of the channel was not human though and heard the supervisor perfectly. After a small pause, the being answered with a few sounds that can easily be identified as orders – no matter what species, the tone is always the same. The supervisor's answer clearly was a confirmation of an order to anyone who could have been able to listen.

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Unaware of the events light years away, T'Pol finally managed to take her attention from her bondmate and concentrate on the people standing around her. Being Vulcan, she immediately grasped the differences about the three people standing before her.

From her bond with Trip, she knew that the man was the captain of this ship, Marc Laplace. He was tall for a human, had brown hair that was already turning grey at the temples and green eyes. He wore a black and grey uniform with a red collar but apart from that, he seemed to be the average human.

But who attracted her attention a lot more than the captain were the two women. One – whom Trip knew as Dr. Johnson – had a certain aura of pride and beauty that humans normally lacked. She was quite small, had dark hair and almost black eyes and wore a uniform similar to the man's. For T'Pol though, her most interesting feature were the slight telepathic signals she received from her. She doubted that the woman would be able to read her thoughts even if her own mental shields were down, but she had never before felt something like this in a human. Even Trip was only telepathic because of their bond.

The other woman was taller than Dr. Johnson, had blond hair and blue eyes and looked all human. Nevertheless, T'Pol felt the existence of a Vulcan mating bond in her. She told herself that she should not be surprised – it was only logical that there would be more human-vulcan couples in the future but she found that she could not suppress the feelings of surprise and mistrust that seemed to form a strange unity.

Suddenly, Commander Veneta spoke up. "Welcome to the 24th century, Commander T'Pol. How are you feeling?"

"I'm well. My body seems to have adapted to the cryo-stasis quite well."

Finally, Archer was not able to hold back anymore. "What exactly is going on?"

Not sure if it was appropriate to talk about her bond with a human in front of those people, she turned to Trip. But it was Commander Veneta who spoke up. "A bond between a Human and a Vulcan is not unheard of." She answered T'Pol's unspoken question, having guessed right that this was her problem.

T'Pol almost showed her surprise at the woman's empathic qualities, but instead turned to her captain. "We told you about our bond, captain. Commander Tucker showed me telepathically what occurred."

"You can talk through this bond?"

"Yeah." Trip supplied, feeling T'Pol's distaste at discussing such a personal thing in a public place. They understood all that the topic was thereby closed.

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TBC…

Still short…

What do you think?

I hope it was clear enough. For me, by now it all seems understandable, but…

I've already got an idea about the next chapter; don't worry about Malcolm not appearing in this chapter – he will soon. And T'Pol's reaction to this will also be described a bit more…


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Between the centuries (working title)

Author: KUgirl

Category: General, Romance

Spoilers: none really

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Enterprise and her crew are stranded in the 24th century we know from ST:TNG, DS9 and VOY

A/N: There you go. The fourth chapter. I just wanted this posted before the weekend was over, so bear with me please if there are faults. I didn't get it betaed.

Mni tnx for the fast reviews, it's just incredibly motivating to get reviews!

Desy, Spanish course ist falsch, das stimmt. Aber mein Wörterbuch findet Spanish class oder seminar besser, weil es nämlich keine Vorlesung, sondern nur eine Übung ist. Sonst wäre lecture richtig. Es stimmt, so lange sich niemand beschwert, kann das eigene Englisch nicht so schlimm sein, ich finde es nur selber immer wieder seltsam, wie schwer selber schreiben ist – lesen ist einfach… Aber nach einem Blick in deine eigenen Storys finde ich dein Englisch so schlecht auch net. Übrigens danke für die treuen Reviews nach jedem Chapter!

firebirdgirl, you're right. I've read WAY too much T/T fan fiction (there the others hardly appear). I'll try to get better. And yep, my Spanish class was fun, Don Quixote's end on DVD!

The beginning might be a bit strange, but I promise, when you keep on reading, you'll find out…. I'm in the mood for some mystery…

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The drink in his hand was almost cold. What was it called again? Raktajino. Right. Some strange Klingon coffee. He could almost feel the looks on his back and hear the whispered words they spoke about him. He felt desperately lonely. They had told him he was a hero. Almost a martyr, just having disappeared at some point in history. When he had gone to bed the day before yesterday, he had been suffering from the loss of a friend. Waking up now, he found that the friend was back but the world he knew was gone. He almost smiled at the choice of words. His world, Earth was still there. Hell, they had told him that it was now even more a paradise than back home. But he was part of a generation where "world" could still mean everything – the universe. From this point of view, he knew that he was right – the world he knew was gone and the Earth he knew as well for that matter. He wondered if his descendants lived somewhere on that planet. Or, rather, his sister's descendants or his cousins' or… "Stop thinking about your family, man!" he scolded himself before he could get too emotional. He had never exactly been close to them since leaving on Enterprise but now, he wished he had called them lately. "223 years ago" a small voice in his head whispered, not exactly making it easier for him. His thoughts wandered back to the moment he woke up.

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_The first thing Malcolm Reed consciously thought when he woke up was that he had not heard his alarm. This caused an automatic reaction, learned during many combat situations in his life. While his body was flooded with adrenaline, he concentrated on the things he could make out without moving or opening his eyes. What he heard – or rather heard not – was enough to make him even more alert. _

"_Malcolm?" _

_Had he been given more time, he would probably have been ready to fight his way out of wherever he was, but Archer's voice calmed him enough to slowly open his eyes. What he saw confirmed his suspicion that he was no longer on Enterprise. The different sound of the engines had already been a close to sure hint but the ceiling above him was definitely not on Enterprise. He turned his head in the direction Archer's voice had come from. He looked a bit tired and concerned but apart from that, he seemed fine. This calmed Reed's nerves even more although that gave way for other pressing questions such as "Where are we?"_

"_You're onboard the starship Virginia, Lieutenant." A female voice suddenly spoke up and added "How are you feeling?"_

_Not even considering answering her question, he turned his head to the woman on his left. He was pretty sure he had never seen her before but she appeared harmless. It took a few seconds more until he registered what she had said. _

"_I've never heard of a starship Virginia." He growled, unaware that he was repeating what the other two men had said when they woke up. A sigh from his right attracted his attention. He would recognize this voice everywhere, even if its owner only sighed._

_Trip spoke up. "That is because she'd not yet existed. Hi Malcolm. Glad you're awake."_

_For a few seconds, all the security officer did was staring at his thought dead friend. _

"_You … bloody hell ... you're alive." He stuttered. That brought forth a sad smile from said friend._

"_Yes, I'm well and alive. How are you feeling, Mal?"_

"_I'm fine. I think. What happened? Apart from going to bed yesterday, I don't remember anything." Then, Trip's words finally made sense in his mind. "She'd not yet existed? What is going on?" At that moment, he had almost sat up, looking around and getting more confused with every second. Suddenly, his eyes settled on his captains', waiting for answers._

"_I'm afraid the story I'm going to tell you will be difficult to accept. I don't think I've understood it all myself." Archer was rambling and he knew it. It took a considerable effort to return to the task at hand. "This is the USS Virginia. A Starfleet ship…"_

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Archer had gone on telling him what had occurred as far as he knew himself. Malcolm had had no idea how to react. A part of him had wanted to run and hide – or even better – find a way back home. Another part had wanted to attack these people who pretended to be his friends. A third part just thought this was some mad dream. He'd even asked Trip to pinch his arm (which he did), but nothing had helped. After a few minutes, T'Pol had joined them, having appeared from some other part of sickbay. She had obviously changed and was now wearing a regular Starfleet uniform as he knew them. She had listened to Archer's story without showing any emotion although Malcolm had noticed that she had stood quite close to Trip, occasionally brushing his hand with hers. He sincerely wondered what she thought of this. Trip and Archer had been quite composed as well but he had seen their unease and he thought that the captain had even seemed afraid. Only know did he understand why the two men behaved differently. Up to this moment, Jonathan Archer had yet to see the rest of the ship while Trip had spent the last seven weeks onboard.

When Archer had finished telling his story, the ship's medical officer – Dr. Johnson – had insisted on further examining him before she declared him fit for duty. He had prepared himself for a thorough examination and was surprised when she merely took a few scans, injected him something with a tool that looked astoundingly similar to Phlox' own hyposprays and gave him a uniform to change. "Of course, 223 years later, you should expect to find technological improvements in about every field." He muttered ironically to himself. After he had changed, they had given him the choice to either take a tour through the ship with Trip, the captain and T'Pol or to be shown to his quarters to think about things. He had opted for the latter, not really keen on company at that moment, even if it would have been some of his best friends.

A Commander Veneta, the ship's diplomatic officer, had shown him to his quarters. She had even explained to him how he had to use the "replicator" (a modern food dispenser) and the computer access but apart from a glass of water and a coffee in the morning, he had not used either. He had just stood at the window, looking at the stars, wondering when his life had become this crazy…

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The day before…

Other than his security officer, Jonathan Archer was quite excited about seeing this ship. He was still not sure what to make of this turn of events and hoped a tour through the ship would make things a bit clearer. Commander Veneta had offered to bring Malcolm, who had seemed pretty shaken up by what they had told him, to his quarters and then join them along the way while Captain Laplace had informed them that they'd begin with the bridge and then visit all major sections including engineering, hydroponics, astrometrics and the living decks.

They were now standing on a huge bridge and Jon wasn't exactly sure what he should say while he turned around, taking everything in. "This is … big." He finally said a bit overwhelmed. T'Pol merely looked around, but apart from a slight interest, he could not make out what she was thinking. Laplace stood nearby, smiling proudly.

"Commander Tucker said something similar." He answered before turning around when the doors of the turbolift opened. Only Trip registered T'Pol's surprise at the woman who stepped out of the lift.

"Captain, Commander, this is my science officer Lt. Cmdr. V'Shal." Laplace introduced the tall Vulcan woman to the two recently arrived officers. She bowed her head politely in greeting and then put her hand up in the traditional Vulcan greeting. "Welcome onboard, Captain Archer, Commander T'Pol." She said in the same strange English that everybody seemed to speak on the ship. T'Pol greeted her back in the same way although it was more out of reflex than anything else. Trip barely caught himself before he did the same.

Jon finally said what T'Pol was thinking. "Don't get me wrong, but exactly how many Vulcans serve in Starfleet these days?"

A low chuckle could be heard at this from somewhere in the back.

"I'm honestly not sure. But Vulcans are the biggest group after Humans in Starfleet. I guess there are several thousand Vulcan Starfleet members working on starships, starbases, on Earth and on other planets". _Virginia's _captain answered seriously. He understood where Archer's question had come from. He himself found it hard to picture Starfleet as it had been in its early beginnings: an only-Human organization from a pretty unknown, weak planet, that had a handful of ships – he could only begin to imagine what this new, powerful, multiracial, widely known Starfleet must be like to them.

The surprise was on Archer's face for all to see. "Several thousands?" Even T'Pol looked slightly surprised, but Laplace could have sworn that he had also seen something like intrigue and pleasure on her face. At that moment V'Shal spoke up.

"Working for Starfleet or the Federation is regarded as an honourable profession amongst my people, sir." She said calmly.

"Is it?" Jon answered smiling brightly, quite pleased about this development. He remembered how hard it had been to integrate T'Pol into the human Enterprise crew, glad that this had changed definitely for the better. T'Pol herself just raised an eyebrow.

Meanwhile, Archer had wandered to the two consoles just in front of the window-like screen. He smiled at the two officers sitting there. "Which one of you is navigation?" he asked, hoping that the helm being in the front was a universal factor they had not changed throughout the centuries.

"I am, sir." The young woman on his right answered smiling excitedly. "I'm Ensign Jennifer Carlton, sir. Would you like to take a look?"

"If I'm allowed to…" Jon replied, looking at his counterpart.

"Of course. Although, if you want to take a closer look, I assure you that there will be time later. I'd prefer to show you the rest of the ship first if you don't mind."

"No, I don't. You're right of course. Just one question. How fast does this ship go? Does it have a warp core?"

"Yes, we're still using warp technology. But we changed the warp scale you were using about 70 years ago. Ensign Carlton knows the exact numbers." _Virginia's_ captain answered smiling.

"Yes, sir." Said ensign answered eagerly. "According to our scale, this ship's top speed is at warp factor 9.975. That would be warp factor 18.33 according to your scale, sir."

Archer couldn't help but whistle at those numbers. "Then how fast is our warp 5?" he asked. The ensign had to laugh at that. At his inquiring glance, she composed herself and explained.

"Sorry, sir. It's just that Commander Tucker asked exactly the same question, sir. To answer your question: 2.72."

-------------------------------------------

TBC…

Tell me what you think! I hope you like it. But any criticism is welcome as long as it helps to improve this story …

The warp factor scales are my own invention – just the idea that they were changed at all is from someone else. I don't remember who though. I just think that this is the only plausible explanation why they were already THAT fast in the 22nd century!

Next chapter will be out soon, with the others appearing and Mal getting used to this…


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Between the centuries (working title) 

Author: KUgirl

Category: General, Romance

Spoilers: none really

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Enterprise and her crew are stranded in the 24th century we know from ST:TNG, DS9 and VOY

A/N: What did I write at the end of the fourth chapter? "Next chapter will be out soon, with the others appearing and Mal getting used to this…" ehem, so it took me a while longer. I'm really sorry, this has been sitting on my computer for quite some time but studying in another country is HARD! And it's great! So by now I have the biggest things to do for this semester behind me and the exams are still a few weeks to go… I hope you still enjoy reading the story! As always, r&r is appreciated!

Virgo: Thanks for the helpful advice, you're right, I'll try to adapt my style. You got me with your question about Archer's role in the Federation! I could make it easy and say everything up to Terra Prime (or Bound) is according to cannon which would mean that we don't know if Archer ever played a big role in the founding of the Federation. But I know myself that this is not the answer you wanted… I'll have to think about this one, maybe I'll find a better solution. Or if anyone of you has one – I'm all ears (or eyes for that matter).

Tnx e grazie to everyone else who reviewed, I really appreciate it - and it's good to know my English isn't that bad :-)

Enjoy!

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In the meantime, in another part of the galaxy, a ship was being made ready for deploy. To a human, it would have looked like a boomerang, with the open end being in front. It was dark grey with many red lights and dark windows – a beautiful and elegant starship. To its owners, it looked like any other deep space observation and research ship – one of many which were dispersed throughout the galaxy.

Its 670 crewmembers were currently on their home planet – in briefings that prepared them for their next mission. The topics of the briefings were quite obviously differing: some people were shown photos and films that an observer from the Alpha quadrant would have been able to recognize easily: Earth, a Klingon bird of prey, an Andorian family, a Federation transporter device. Others were listening to lectures about astronomical phenomena or technological specialties. One group was studying star charts. Another was being informed about the history of the main species in the Alpha Quadrant: Vulcans, Klingons, Humans, Romulans.

A group of four high-ranking officers was looking at data about the technology and the crew of one single human starship. At this moment, a photo of a human male was shown on the screen. Something was written under the photo. To those able to read it, the words were a name: Jonathan Archer.

--------------------------------------

"Mind if I join you?" a young woman's voice could be heard. She didn't wait for the man's answer but simply sat down with a steaming cup in one hand and a bowl full of what seemed to be chocolate ice-cream in the other.

Malcolm looked at her questioningly, hoping against all common sense that she had sat down at the wrong table. He was not in the mood to be treated like a living legend.

"I'm Lieutenant Louise Patek." She suddenly said and his polite manners kicked in.

"Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. Although you probably know that." After all, his mood was stronger than his manners. The young woman did not seem to be bothered by his attitude.

"I do. Indeed. Malcolm Reed. Chief of security. One of the few Europeans on the NX-01. Missing in action since twenty-one-fifty-four. Well, not anymore." She finally got his attention.

"Armoury officer."

"So Armoury officer it is. I prefer security officer though, it sounds … I don't know … less violent." At that, he looked at her more closely. He had no idea if she meant what she said or if she was kidding. She seemed to be serious, but something in her voice made him think she wasn't. She was pretty. Not beautiful, but pretty. She had short blond hair and green eyes. She did not seem to be tall, but her overall appearance reflected strength and her eyes showed determination.

"Less violent. I doubt the job became less violent over the years." He played along – not being entirely serious but not kidding either.

"That, we would only find out if you told me something about your job and I compared it to mine."

"You're a security officer?"

"Yes. I am. I was on duty yesterday and did not see you on the tour the captain made with the others. You missed quite a demonstration of our weaponry."

-------------------------------------------------

Malcolm Reed would find out later that Lieutenant Patek had been exaggerating. Badly. But she had done it on purpose and he wouldn't mind.

_"This is weaponry 3. All in all we've got five weapon rooms on the ship, but it would be useless to show you all as they're mostly alike." Commander Veneta was telling the three Enterprise officers at this moment._

_"Five weapon rooms! I guess I'd better not ask how many phaser cannons this ship has." Archer interrupted her explanations._

_Veneta smiled at that. "Alright, I'm not going to tell you." Still smiling, she turned around to a man headed in their direction. "Lieutenant, these are the three senior officers from the NX-01. I'm showing them around the ship."_

_"Yes, ma'am. I was informed about it. Captain. Commanders." He greeted them politely, "I'm Lieutenant Kato Velell. Officer on duty. If you'd like, I'll show you around a bit."_

_And they were shown to the different types of phasers, the sophisticated quantum torpedos and a few other arms they were more or less familiar with. On retrospect, they would agree that although the development was obvious, the basics had stayed mainly the same._

--------------------------------------------------

After a long tour through the ship which not only gave Archer and T'Pol a first impression of the 24th century but would also be the main topic of conversation for a lot of time to come for those who were present, the three officers finally found some quiet time to settle down and talk privately.

"So, what do you think?" Trip asked after several minutes of sipping the beverages they had obtained from the replicator. T'Pol had opted for her usual chamomile tea, Archer had a cup of cappuccino in his hands (which he swore was the best he had ever had) and Trip indulged in his new found obsession for raktajino. They sat on the sofa of the quarters assigned to Trip, each on one side around a small table.

"That this is crazy…" Archer said in the end, sighing heavily. He seemed to want to add something but then, suddenly leaned forward, sat his cup down and looked at his companions. "Could this be a trick? In any way? A big hallucination or a simulation or something?"

Both Trip and T'Pol looked back at him. Trip had an expression on his face that made it clear that he knew where Archer's words had come from and even T'Pol showed a tiny bit of what they all felt.

She finally spoke up. "I don't see any way in which this could be a simulation. Even though improbable, everything we saw today has a logical explanation…"

"…and it would be one hell of a simulation if this was a trick." Trip finished for her, his voice low and pensive.

Jon closed his eyes and inhaled. His face showed the same mix everybody seemed to be feeling at the moment: desperation, fear but also the love for adventure that every Starfleet officer needs – be it in the 22nd or the 24th century.

When he opened them again, he looked directly into the eyes of his chief engineer and held his gaze. For a few seconds, all three of them revelled in one fact: that the Enterprise crew was still together and that they would get through this supporting each other.

---------------------------------------------

They had been talking for almost 15 minutes when Malcolm actually realized that. In the same moment, he become conscious of the fact that it was about three minutes ago that he had last thought about the situation they were in now. It almost made him choke on his – what was it called? – ah yes, raktajino. Almost. But the young security officer in front of him noticed it nonetheless.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice showing a hint of worry. He looked at her, studying the woman who had actually made him feel better about what was going in – within minutes. He smiled.

"Yeah. Hell, no. Of course I'm not. 48 hours ago, I was still at home, the people I know were alive and I knew what I was doing." For a second, he hesitated "Ok, so I didn't always know what I was doing, but I knew the technology. You know what I mean."

By now, Louise had a full blown smile on her face. It was so not his nature to get flustered by somebody like her, but her doubting expression at his "I knew what I was doing" got to him within no time.

"You will find that we are not that different from you. The technology is more sophisticated than yours, but it's the same principle. At least that's what Commander Tucker said." Then, she got more serious. "I'm afraid though that we can't bring you back anyone you have lost. You can take a look at the ship's databank; surely you will find what happened to them after you were put in cryo-stasis. But apart from that, you will have to find yourself new friends here." By now, she was looking into his eyes, trying to convey her sympathy and ease his worries.

They sat like that for minutes, Malcolm lost in his own world, slowly realizing that denying wouldn't help, that some of his closest friends were still there, that this was just one new adventure he would get through with them and Louise Patek trying desperately to imagine being in his situation and not going insane.

----------------------------------

Dr. Adonia Johnson looked up when the doors of sickbay swished open and Karen Veneta entered. The two women smiled at each other, having been good friends for years. The other woman came to stand in front of her, her face showing the stress of the last few days.

"How are you holding up?" she asked the doctor, referring to the six people from the past lying on the biobeds and another 75 still waiting to be woken up.

Adonia smiled at her friend's worried expression. "We are perfectly fine, Karen." She answered, laying a hand protectively on her still flat abdomen. Veneta relaxed at that, she knew well that the doctor would not take unnecessary risks.

"So, who do we have here now?" She asked turning to the biobeds and mustering the people's faces, having turned to business with a perfection Adonia knew she had got from her husband.

"This is Ensign Hoshi Sato, the ship's communications officer." She stopped when Karen spoke up. "Communications officer is a bit of an understatement. That woman speaks more languages than she can count, she lived through things that I'm very happy I never ever came close too, Commander Tucker described her as the good soul on board the ship…" she hesitated, looking first at Ensign Sato's still face and then at her friend. "But for that matter, all of them are quite special, aren't they?"

"It's always amazing how you can get carried away, honey. I've got no idea how Sopol actually keeps up with you." The doctor said smiling. "Yes, they are quite special. They survived more than they should have been able to as well. And of course it had to be them who got put in cryo-stasis to be woken up 227 years later."

They had by then gone on to the next biobed. "Doctor Phlox I guess." The diplomatic officer said while looking at him, she got a nod in response. "Denobulans are by now quite rare in the 'Fleet. I wonder how he did it. They are known to have considerable problems in a Human environment." A/N: Don't even try to find a prove for that, it's my own invention. lol

"Well you know how it goes. They are always two or three or a dozen or a few hundreds of individuals who can put up with things most of their race can't. But you'll soon be able to ask him yourself."

The only answer she got was a wicked look in her direction.

"Ensign Travis Mayweather. Primary watch helmsman. A "boomer" as Commander Tucker described him."

Adonia laughed at that. "A boomer?" They shared a short glance over the strangeness of the word. "Yeah. Obviously, in the 22nd century, somebody who had lived his whole life on a starship was called a boomer. Totally normal word." Her friend answered her.

They got serious again. "When are you going to wake them up?"

"As soon as Captain Archer is here. He wants to be there when they wake up. A good measure if you ask me."

"Of course." At that, the doors swished open and said Captain entered with his two senior officers in tow.

----------------------------------------

TBC...

A/N: Ok, so the ending is a bit abrupt and it's really short for a chapter that comes out 2 months after the last one, but I still wanted to get this out. It's half past midnight so I'm going to turn in now! Tell me what you think and have a nice beginning of the week! And I promise to write more soon (if you want me to that is). Latest, next weekend!


	6. Chapter 6

**BETWEEN THE CENTURIES**

Chapter 6

**A/N:** It's probably a good thing you can't shoot me. But believe me, my bad conscience is doing that part ;-) Sorry for the delai. Really.  
So anyway, I'm glad you actually liked the last chapter; I wasn't too convinced myself… So now that the semester comes to an end and I only need to do two presentations in one and a half weeks (I'd better not think about it), I finally found the muse necessary to update this. I decided to do POVs of the three main characters that hadn't been awake yet. Don't expect action, there is none, and it isn't too long either, but it gives me the start I needed. Let me know what you think of the characterizations please, I haven't watched ENT in a long time…

And now on with the story, I hope you enjoy it.

**Disclaimer**: still not mine…

* * *

Hoshi

It was totally insane. They were in the future – the 24th century, for god's sake! But Hoshi Sato found nothing but giddiness, adventuresomeness (A/N: Does that word actually exist? Dictionary says yes, MS Word says no) and a close to feverish interest for this new time in herself.

The language the people spoke on this ship was English, but considerably altered. She could hear a few elements of European and Asian languages in this new form, found a few structures she would've identified as Vulcan and words whose origins she couldn't even guess. The pronunciation had changed as well – showing the multiple contacts and usages the language had gone through during the last 223 years. It was enthralling. The language she knew as English was by now the Standard language of the Federation – spoken by the majority of its 150 members.

She had used the day that had passed since she had woken up to speak as much as she could in this new accent – by now almost mastering the difference. It was fun to see how Commander Tucker cringed when she spoke like them. The others didn't seem to care much though – everybody was still too shocked by what had happened or too busy taking in their surroundings themselves.

At the moment, she had found a new field to study: Vulcan. She sat at a table in the mess hall with Commanders Veneta and V'Shal who were both fluent in Vulcan and analyzed the changes this language had undergone while listening to stories about the Vulcan-Human relations of the last 200 years. They had undergone a major change. She had by now found out that most of the people here weren't even aware that the relations between the two peoples had once been less than friendly. Human-Vulcan hybrids were by now nothing special, some having even become quite famous in different fields of activity. Joint projects didn't even exist anymore because every scientific project that existed on either of the two planets was automatically both Vulcan and Human. They had found a balance in their relations that Sato would've never dreamt of.

The language itself also showed interesting traces of Human influence – even though they were minuscule compared to English. More important were changes that seemed to be created by the study of the Kir'Shara. Old words and grammatical structures had resurfaced, mixed with the newer form of Vulcan, this gave an interesting case study.

Hoshi smiled and returned her attention to the strawberry sorbet in front of her, quietly listening to the women speaking.

* * *

Phlox

For the first time in his life, Phlox needed desperately to be alone. Being far away from home had never bothered him – it was his nature to go where no Denobulan had gone before. But not only being far away but being too far away to ever return bothered him considerably. It had only been 24 hours since they had woken them, a period in which he would never have felt the need to call his family or a friend. But, now, in this situation, he missed them. Like never before. He wanted this nightmare to end and return to good old 2154. He wanted his sickbay back, his animals and return to treating his Human companions. He wanted to get back to night shift and to movie night (even though there admittedly hadn't been one in quite some time). He simply wanted to make all this undone.

He had had a look at the ship's databank – he was simply not the person to brood about this for a whole day without actually doing something. Denobula was a member of the United Federation of Planets, which made him proud, but they weren't important. There was not one single Denobulan in Starfleet at the moment, even though there had been half a dozen throughout the last 200 years – he wasn't especially surprised at that, knowing his people quite well, but he would've still liked knowing that they had become more open to others. At least the conflict with the Antarans seemed to have been ended for good; he had found various references of cooperation between the two peoples.

Doctor Phlox, member of the Interspecies Medical Exchange returned to looking out of the window, looking at the stars that were completely still and waiting for something to happen so he could get his mind of the most apparent problem.

* * *

Travis

_Enterprise's_ helm man strolled around the _Virginia_, getting a feeling for its corridors, its machines and the people. He had no idea what to think. As a boomer who had left for Starfleet, it was natural to be a long way from home, and even though this was a major change (_understatement of the year, man!_), he was at least aboard a starship and didn't feel threatened by the people aboard.

He crossed a young woman and a man in his forties wearing civilian clothes. They were discussing something but stopped when they saw the man from the past wandering around. "Can I help you, sir?" the man asked, making Travis smile – he hadn't been referred to as "sir" in a long time, if ever.

"No, thanks. I'm just walking, getting a look on your beautiful ship." They smiled at that.

"You like it?" the younger woman asked.

"Oh yeah, it's different, advanced, but it's still … well, Human, at least. I recognize the design and the decks' vibrations are familiar." It was the boomer talking.

"It's one of the newest research ships we've got at the moment." The pride the crew obviously felt for the ship was clearly expressed in the man's voice.

"And a real beauty at that." Travis added smiling. "Well, I'd better be going, I've still got several decks to explore and we've got a reunion in three hours."

"Of course." the man said and "Have a nice trip" the woman continued. They smiled at each other and went on.

What he had told them was right. He was surprised how much he felt at home on this ship. Not in the way of being home, but at home in the sense of being in space and flying. He suspected he would begin to miss his family and his time soon enough – at last when he set food on a completely changed Earth again. But until then, he was enjoying the chance to get a look at one of the fasted ships he had ever set foot on. Maybe one day, he would get the chance to fly one of those…

* * *

TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Between the centuries (working title)

Author: KUgirl

Category: General, Romance

Spoilers: none really

Disclaimer: Enterprise and the 24th century belong to Paramount and consorts. It's not mine, I'm just taking pleasure in playing around with it…

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Enterprise and her crew are stranded in the 24th century we know from ST:TNG, DS9 and VOY

A/N: I guess I won't stop apologizing until this baby is complete. You'll probably have to read from the beginning because it's been AGES since I updated this. Nevertheless, when I received a review a few weeks ago (Thanks, Sketch1981), I decided to reopen the files and have a try at finishing it (although that might still take some time). I thought long and hard about how I'm going to integrate the fact that Jonathan Archer was important for the Federation's creation but I had no idea that wasn't too artificial and I simply don't want to make them forget everything. So consider this story AU since it ignores the last episode. Again, I'm not English, my English didn't improve either since the last update and there might be mistakes. I hope you enjoy this part and I'm open for critics and ideas... Have a nice day…

Reviews are appreciated. No flames pls!

* * *

They were underway. A powerful engine was bringing their ship to the Alpha Quadrant at a speed not even the Borg would've been able to reach. It would still take some time to get there though and the preparations weren't finished: sensor phalanxes got aligned, information still got transferred from their home world and officers were preparing for away missions. All went according to plan, everyone knew what they had to do and the observation would soon begin.

* * *

Light years away, but coming closer, the command crew of Enterprise NX-01 was busy informing his own crew of their new situation. Not everyone took it well, but some did. 

A young Lieutenant from armoury was all excited about this new ship. He had never had family on Earth, had never felt quite human even though he was and he had always dreamed of finding himself a new home in a not-human environment. The realization that this was his chance had come fast.

A man and a woman who had had a secret relationship for years were finally able to acknowledge their feelings and still stay in Starfleet without loosing each other. They would sure miss their friends and families but they had both always wanted to live in space and were happy with just each other.

The majority of the crew though was shocked. Some would probably need a long time until they could live in this new century, some might never be able to cope. But they were Starfleet officers and lived for the adventure – they would survive.

* * *

Meanwhile, Malcolm Reed got his own personal tour through the ship. Louise Patek had finally convinced him to have a look at the weaponry and the security systems, appealing to his honour as a security officer. So they walked the ship, Patek explaining everything from the security's point of view. At this moment, Malcolm stood in a corridor, examining a diagram of one of the force field generators. 

"So these force fields prevent everybody who wants to pass from doing that. What about weapons? This thing doesn't look very secure against fire."

"Oh but they are. The force fields they generate include the generators themselves. No phaser fire is strong enough to penetrate those fields."

Reed had another look at the diagram. "I see. I remember a few situations where these things could have come in handy." The woman only smiled. "The problem is, you can have the most sophisticated system, the bad guys always find a way around. Or… well, sometimes they do. Sometimes we get them." Her smile got a proud shine to it and Malcolm found himself just watching her until she pulled him down the corridor to show him another technological wonder.

* * *

Karen Veneta stood in front of the mess hall talking business with someone from Security when she saw T'Pol approaching. All curious about this strange Vulcan woman, she almost didn't finish her sentence. 

"I'll get back to you – dismissed." With a nod, the man left her alone and returned to his post while Veneta took a step forward and looked at T'Pol. "Commander. Would you like to join me for a drink?" When the Vulcan nodded, she smiled and stepped into the mess hall, heading for a free table.

Between ordering their drinks and getting them from one of the waiters, the two women were silent, both in thought but comfortable with each others' presence. It was T'Pol who broke the silence.

"May I ask you a personal question?"

"As blunt as any Vulcan. Sure – ask." Veneta answered smirking, taking a sip from her Bergamot tea.

"I can feel a Vulcan bond in you. I'm curious as to how Humans and Vulcans relate to each other in the 24th century." T'Pols face was as impassive as was necessary for any Vulcan. Nevertheless, any good observer could see the barely concealed curiosity in her eyes and the need to get an answer in the way she held her cup of tea.

As to the other woman, it was obvious that she had been waiting for this question when she smiled slightly, took another sip from her tea and placed the cup back on the table. "Vulcans and Humans are… allies, we are friends, neighbouring species and nobody can think Humans without Vulcans or Vulcans without Humans. I don't remember the first time I might have seen a Vulcan, they've always been around me, even though I do remember that I found them incredibly stiff and boring." A wistful smile accompanied those words. "I'm originally a historian, did you know that?"

T'Pol only shook her head and Karen nodded affirming.

"Well I am. I specialized in 23rd century Federation history and went to Vulcan for a research project. It was strange. I spoke a few words Vulcan because one of my friends had lived there for some time. Theoretically I knew that the gravitation was higher, that the sky wasn't blue, that it was a lot warmer on Vulcan. I knew that Vulcans weren't exactly hospitable in the way of being frank and open and funny. I knew that I'd be homesick and ill and that it would take some time until I'd be accepted by everyone. But even in the 24th century, a young, naïve woman from Earth can be quite lost on Vulcan." She laughed when a few memories from that time came back to her and took another sip from her tea. "Anyway, after two or three months I met the man who is now my husband – Salik. He's a historian himself, but specialized in what Humans call "medieval" Vulcan history. I guess saying that he is slightly older that I am would be an understatement, but as you get a lot older that we do, it is of no importance."

T'Pol nodded at that, affirming that she understood well what Veneta was getting at.

"You asked about how Humans and Vulcans relate to each other now. Salik instructed me in Vulcan culture. The average Human knows enough to deal with Vulcans he meets without offending them. But that's about it. Salik had to instruct me in quite a few Vulcan traditions and even now, after having been bonded for a bit more than six years and speaking Vulcan almost fluently, it happens that I don't quite fit in a Vulcan community or that my husband feels uncomfortable on Earth. Our two species respect each other and I think you can say that no other race has relations quite as close to Humans as Vulcans do. Nevertheless, we're different. Very. And that never changed." She looked at T'Pol questioningly. "I hope that answers your question a bit."

T'Pol nodded while processing the information the Human woman had given her. One question remained that she absolutely needed an answer to. "How do people react to you being married to a Vulcan?" That question was answered with a laugh from Veneta.

"They find it… unusual…but not unheard of. Some of the most respected men in the Federation are offspring of such Vulcan-Human relationships. Everybody knows that, and even though not everyone can imagine living with a man who has supposedly no emotions, I never met anyone who would have thought it abnormal, or… well, freaky, or something."

Now, even any ordinary observer could have observed the smile that flittered across T'Pol's face.

* * *

Jonathan Archer sat at the CONN. Captain Laplace stood beside him, guiding him through the steps of making this ship fly. At the moment, the RCS thrusters on the right side of the ship were working at full speed, manoeuvring the ship out of dock. 

"It feels completely real. I'm even afraid I'll break something." He said amazed. The other Captain laughed. "I know the feeling. When I was a child, my parents and I went to a holosimulation centre in Zurich. They had a simulation of Peter Pan. Do you know that? It's a book, written by a 20th century author called J.M. Barrie."

Archer nodded. "It was quite known back at home."

"Some things never change. I remember that I dreamt of the adventures of Peter Pan and Wendy for weeks to come and that I never quite felt the same excitement again like I felt this first time in Zurich." Laplace stood there with a remembering smile on his face until they felt the collision. Both managed to cling to the station in order to not fall down.

"Oh oh. I think I crashed your ship. A bit." Archer said, not feeling the slightest bit guilty and smiling brightly. "I think I could get used to flying around on your holodeck and crashing ships without damaging anything."

Laplace leant forward and entered a few commands.

"Yes, you managed to effectively damage several navigation lights and a few windows as well as part of the dock. I guess Holo-Starfleet will soon send you a steep bill."

Their laughter could be heard outside the holodeck for a long time. Almost, at least.

* * *

Meanwhile, Charles Tucker and Travis Mayweather had a field day with the ship's warp engine. They had received the authorization to have a close look at its components under the condition that they not touch anything. At the moment, they were cramped in one of the Jeffries tubes, watching an EPS conduit and trying to decipher what one of those new-fashioned tricorders was telling them about it. 

"I can't wait to fly one of those babies." Travis said when they finally had the impression to understand what happens in the conduit. Trip only smiled.

"If I understood them correctly, the captain is at this precise moment flying "one of those babies" on the holodeck." He watched Mayweather's reaction closely and found only confusion, just as he had expected. He smiled brightly.

"Holodeck?"

"Yeah. Remember film nights?" The boomer nodded his head, still confused.

"Now imagine these films in 3D, feeling as if they were real and you being one of the protagonists. That is holographic technology in the 24th century. Of course, apparently, they can create just about every possible and impossible situation on those holodecks. An amazing technology that I haven't yet found the time to inspect more closely." Travis only looked at him trying to find out if he was kidding or being serious.

"Believe me," Trip said laughing, "ask the captain. Well, when he comes back from his adventure."

"I'll do that. Believe me. So where are we going now?"

* * *

TBC… 


End file.
